Archive for April, 2011

Tuesday’s press was full of stories such as this suggesting that one in four current 16 year olds will live to be 100. I was a bit suspicious of this as it doesn’t seem that long since we were being told that current teenagers are an unhealthy bunch who only shift from their xboxes long enough to grab another portion of chips. Also the Government leapt onto the report as justification for hacking away at pension provision. (more…)

It would seem that some herbalists are not happy about the EU’s Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (THMPD). This is the directive that requires all herbal remedies sold over the counter to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and that some herbal remedies only be available on prescription from practitioners meeting strict guidelines. Since herbal remedies are being sold as medicine, and (unlike homeopathy) do have a pharmecological effect on the body, who can possibly object to that? (more…)

The Evening Standard recently carried an article on the “Alkali Diet”. It was full of rubbish and was taken down after a few days after a complaint by a blogger. Since the diet has celebrity endorsement (there is clearly no woo so stupid that some celebrity won’t endorse it) it is bound to turn up elsewhere so I thought I would take a closer look at it. (more…)